John Elway's Broncos business plan has long-term view on short-term deals

Q: Is it my imagination, but are more players accepting short-term deals than before? For example, I was surprised that Wes Welker signed only a two-year deal and not a longer one. What's the explanation?

A: Ted, it isn't your imagination, it's the Broncos business plan in free agency these days.

With John Elway calling the shots on the football side of the organization, the Broncos have made the decision to limit the risks in free agency, if possible. They don't want dead money on the salary cap — cap charges for players who are no longer on the roster — and they are a draft-centered team.

This idea the Broncos are entirely in "win-now" or "all-in" mode because they have Peyton Manning at quarterback is simply false.

Who says so?

Guy named Elway. Here's how he put it:

"So, I know that we've got to continue to stack these drafts, and that's how we're going to stay competitive for a long time. Now, free agency, to me, that's something you look at where you add certain aspects that make you better there, but the bottom line is, you're going to make your living on the draft."

And that's exactly how the team has approached free agency in the last three offseasons under Elway if you look at the big picture, a picture that extends beyond Manning.

Manning's signing was an anomaly, a future Hall of Fame quarterback with football tread left on the tires simply doesn't come into the market in the free agency era. In fact, many personnel folks I speak to regularly believe the league may never see another situation like it.

Elway and the Broncos saw a unique opportunity and they made the most of it. So, to hold up Manning as an example of the Broncos' strategy in free agency is mis-placed.

They have been far more selective in free agency after Manning, choosing to make short-term offers to players they believe could fill specific needs without burdening their salary cap. They are not one of the most cash-rich organizations in the league in terms of the ability to give up up-front, guaranteed money — they are closer to the middle of the pack in that regard than the top of the league — so that has influenced their strategy.

Couple that with simple fact the "all-in" approach has yet to really work for anyone who has tried it, in terms of playing in, let alone winning, a Super Bowl and you have the football business plan for Dove Valley.

The annual rite of the postseason is the "all-in" teams conduct their coaching searches as they watch the draft-built teams play of the trophy.

But players are always going to want long-term deals with plenty of up-front cash, because free agency was a hard-earned, much-deserved right that was won only with long legal battles with the league. So, in a competitive marketplace the Broncos are selling the idea of potential success to players who, perhaps, could have gotten an extra year or two, or a little more money up front, elsewhere.

Welker is a player used to being among the league's elite after six years in New England, he was not looking to just go anywhere for extra cash. He wanted to stay among the teams with the ability to compete for a Super Bowl spot.

And that entails having a franchise quarterback. So, the Broncos are a quality fit on a two-year, $12 million deal with plenty of guaranteed money in it.

In addition the Broncos targeted players they believe fit what they do and for the most part tried to sign some of the younger guys in the free agency market as well. Linebacker Stewart Bradley, cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are on one-year deals while Welker, Kevin Vickerson and Terrance Knighton are on two-year deals. Of that group, only Welker is over 30.

Vickerson just turned 30 and Bradley is 29. Rodgers-Cromartie won't even turn 27 until next month while Knighton won't turn 27 until July. Thus far, only guard Louis Vasquez got a longer deal from the Broncos with the 25-year-old having signed a four-year contract.

Last year Justin Bannan, Keith Brooking, Jason Hunter, Dan Koppen and Brandon Stokley were all signed to one-year deals with no signing bonuses this past season. Jim Leonhard also signed a one-year deal last year and got a $65,000 signing bonus.

That means the Broncos got enormous production from that group having signed them all after they had signed Manning.

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